(left to right) Kathryn Robinson and friend Julia Marino chant" Not our President" as they march with the hundreds from San Francisco City Hall to Justin Herman Plaza in protest of the inauguration,Thursday Jan. 20,2005. of Hundreds of people from the Bay Area gather at San Francisco City Hall to protest George Bush's Inauguration, Thursday Jan.20, 2005.
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Hundreds of people gather to listen to speakers such as Alicia Jrapko to protest Presdient Bush's inauguration,, Jan. 20, 2005, in San Francisco .Hundreds of people from the Bay Area gather at San Francisco City Hall to protest George Bush's Inauguration, Thursday Jan.20, 2005.
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Hundreds of people gather to listen to speakers such as Alicia...

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Cindy Wiesner and Sara Kershnar, yell as mmarch in protest of President Bush inauguration, Thursday Jan.20, 2005.Hundreds of people from the Bay Area gather at San Francisco City Hall to protest George Bush's Inauguration, Thursday Jan.20, 2005.
LACY ATKINS/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Photo: LACY ATKINS

Cindy Wiesner and Sara Kershnar, yell as mmarch in protest of...

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Flags fly as people gather at City Hall to rally and march against President Bushs inauguration, Thursday Jan. 20, 2005, in San Francisco.Hundreds of people from the Bay Area gather at San Francisco City Hall to protest George Bush's Inauguration, Thursday Jan.20, 2005.
LACY ATKINS/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Photo: LACY ATKINS

Flags fly as people gather at City Hall to rally and march against...

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Maggy Wilson Boast from Shell Beach, Calif. (at right) waves to passing motorist in Salinas, Calif at a "Stop the War - Bring our Troops Home" rally on Thursday Jan. 20, 2005. About a dozen people showed up with signs to protest the war in Iraq along with their protest agaisnt President Bush. The protest was organized by the Salinas Action LeaguePhoto (AP Photo, Monterey County Herald, Vern Fisher)

Photo: Vern Fisher

Maggy Wilson Boast from Shell Beach, Calif. (at right) waves to...

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Marquita Pearman, center, joined more than 200 other demonstrators at a rally to protest the inauguration of President Bush, at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Several thousand demonstrators rallied at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco on Thursday night, protesting the inauguration of President Bush and calling for an end to the war in Iraq. After the rally, demonstrators marched along Market Street, effectively closing the street.

Speakers at the rally gave fiery denunciations of Bush and his policies, with many shouting personal insults and some comparing his actions to that of the Nazis in pre-World War II Germany.

"Today is a sad day in history. A war criminal has been sworn in as president," said Alicia Jrapko of International ANSWER, the group that organized the rally.

San Francisco police did not estimate the size of the crowd as the department no longer does such counts, said spokeswoman Officer Maria Oropeza. During the rally, the central portion of Civic Center Plaza was filled with people, and the march stretched multiple blocks.

Other Bay Area cities also held anti-inauguration rallies Thursday. About 200 people gathered in downtown Berkeley to hear the first of a series of readings of Langston Hughes' celebrated poem, "Let America Be America Again."

"We're in the throes of a criminal government," said Berkeley poet, novelist and essayist Al Young. "It is a dire hour."

At both rallies, demonstrators denounced the continuing war in Iraq, along with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The march was led by demonstrators holding banners calling for an end to the war and by a large contingent of people waving Palestinian flags.

A handful of pro-Bush demonstrators, carrying signs that said "You lost. Go home," stood at the edge of the Civic Center rally.

Many speakers denounced Bush's use of the term "freedom" in his inauguration speech and his statement after the election that he believed voters had given him a mandate with his re-election.

"With less than 52 percent of the vote, George Bush has the gall to say he has a mandate. Well, George Bush, I have a man you can date but I don't know if you're man enough to handle it," said Calvin Gipson of the group Castro for All.

Richard Whittaker, a math tutor from San Rafael, also said he was motivated to demonstrate because of the "mandate" issue.

"I'm here to express my conviction that there is no mandate for Bush's election," said Whittaker, 58.

Isobel Marcus, a 21-year-old political science student from UC Santa Cruz, said she attended the protest to express her objections to Bush's foreign and domestic policies.

"I'm strongly opposed to this administration and horribly grieved that he was inaugurated today," Marcus said.

Several people in the crowd held signs that said "Thank you, Barbara Boxer" and "Boxer for President 2008" as speakers praised the California Democratic senator's opposition to the election results in Ohio and her tough questions in Condoleezza Rice's secretary of state confirmation hearing this week.

Waves of cheers spread through the crowd each time Boxer's name was mentioned.

In Berkeley, the performers read Hughes' invocation of an unfulfilled dream for America, particularly for poor people and African Americans like himself, with the audience joining in on various passages.

Leon Litwack, a UC Berkeley history professor, recalled how he chose to read Hughes' 1936 poem as a teenager when his high school in Santa Barbara gave students a chance to record their voices on vinyl.

"It (the poem) made a lot of sense to me then. It makes even more sense to me now that we use it this morning," Litwack told the crowd of mostly older peace advocates.

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates took the stage at one point, saying the political state of the nation "couldn't be worse."

"Every element of our society is under attack," said Bates, decrying the war in Iraq, the cutting of domestic social welfare programs and the loss of civil liberties.